For almost 130 years, nuns have cared for lambs blessed by pope

Submitted on January 26, 2011

Cindy Wooden | Catholic News Service

Pope Benedict XVI blesses a lamb in the apostolic palace during a ceremony marking the feast of St. Agnes at the Vatican Jan. 21. The wool from two lambs blessed by the pope will be used to make the palliums the pontiff gives each June to new archbishops from around the world.

CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano/Catholic Press Phot

VATICAN CITY — Certain things — such as a bath and getting dressed up — are universal before a personal meeting with the pope, and the rule holds even for lambs. As he does every year, Pope Benedict XVI blessed two little lambs Jan. 21, the feast of St. Agnes. Raised by Trappist monks on the outskirts of Rome, the lambs spent the night before their papal audience in the center of Rome on the rooftop terrace of the Sisters of the Holy Family of Nazareth.